CEDAR FALLS - A few days ago, 11-week-old Wesley Hoffman was on the floor of a Village Inn restaurant, cold, gray and unresponsive. He wasn't breathing. He had no pulse for minutes.

His mother, Leah Hoffman, was fearing the worst for her young son. Was it too late? What would she tell her husband, Charles?

Now, Wesley and his mom are back at home in Des Moines, and everything seems back to normal.

"He is smiling and cooing. He just smiles and smiles - no laughing yet, but he's really close," she said from her Des Moines home. "It's like it didn't even happen, and he's even more happy."

But the situation is still very much in the minds of several Cedar Valley residents who were at the Cedar Falls Village Inn Saturday afternoon, many of whom watched in horror as a baby who had been fussy and alert just minutes earlier suddenly fell silent.

The culprit seems to be a bout of gastroesophageal reflux disease, commonly known as acid reflux, which has plagued Wesley his entire life. Hoffman believes the baby choked on milk while having an episode of acid reflux and the two compounded to block his windpipe.

It happened while Hoffman was out to lunch with friends, passing Wesley around and breastfeeding him under a blanket. Wesley would latch on, then let go, and didn't seem to be consistently feeding. Hoffman thought he was simply falling asleep, and pulled up the blanket to look at him.

When she noticed blood on the baby's face and on herself, she thought she must be bleeding and asked a friend, Laura Potter of Cedar Falls, to go with her to the bathroom to check it out.

"Her face - I could tell something was wrong," Potter said.

But when they got to the restroom, they quickly realized Wesley was unresponsive.

"It was like there was no life in him," Hoffman said. "And Laura said, 'Is he breathing?' and I put my head up to his mouth and said no, he was not breathing. It was like he was gone."

Hoffman began screaming and Potter ran outside to the restaurant, asking for someone to call 911 and pleading for a doctor.

Across the restaurant, two Kaplan University nursing students who had been taking a break from studying for their finals for some carrot cake noticed the commotion.

Marta Espinoza and Kellie Leasure, both of Cedar Falls, had come in on a whim after studying for hours at the Cedar Falls Public Library. After waiting a few seconds to see if any actual doctors came forward, they quickly decided their skills were needed, though they didn't know what for.

Both Leasure and Espinoza said they figured an older person was in cardiac arrest, before they saw the limp, lifeless newborn.

"There was this little, 6-pound baby, white as a ghost," Leasure said. "It was slow motion for us."

Leasure noted Wesley was past the point of cyanosis, which is when the body turns blue because of a lack of oxygen in the blood. Espinoza said the baby had no pulse, and instructed Leasure to begin cardiopulminary resuscitation, or CPR.

"The universe took over. I was so afraid - he was so fragile and so little. In the back of my mind I'm thinking, no way, he's so past the point," Leasure said. "But I never questioned not responding or not helping."

Another friend, Catherine Potter of Cedar Falls, noticed the two looked uncertain.

"You could tell they were scared," she said. "But they got down on the floor and started doing CPR."

Potter was on the phone with police dispatchers while Hoffman reportedly screamed. Restaurant patrons were either in shock, running to nearby businesses to find a doctor, or simply praying.

"It was like my worst nightmare happening," Hoffman said.

After 31 chest compressions, Leasure finally heard Wesley sputter. Espinoza turned the baby over and began patting his back, trying to drain the mucus and blood from his airway.

Cedar Falls police officer Kimm Froning, the first public safety officer at the scene after the 911 call was made, assisted the students in attempting to revive the baby with back blows. It is the third time Froning has been called to resuscitate an individual, Police Chief Jeff Olson said.

"Shortly after that he let out a wail, and the whole restaurant started clapping and burst into tears," Laura Potter said.

Paramedics whisked Wesley away to Sartori Memorial Hospital in Cedar Falls and he was later transferred to Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo. Though he had been without a pulse for minutes, Wesley didn't seem to have severe after-effects and doctors initially didn't believe the family's story.

Once Espinoza and Leasure came by to check on Wesley and confirmed he had been without a pulse for minutes, Hoffman was finally able to convince the hospital staff.

"The doctor … said if that had happened the way I described it, there was no way (Wesley) would be in the condition he was in," Hoffman said. "He owes his life to these women."

The nurses are modest about their role.

"I'm just so happy the baby came through this and he's doing fine," Espinoza, originally from West Palm Beach, Fla., said.

Leasure said she hopes events like this can convince people it's a good idea to get certified in CPR, and said people shouldn't be scared of coming forward if they know how to help.

"The bottom line is it could have been any of us - you just have to act," she said. "Understand CPR and know you can do it."

Contact the writer at (319) 291-1464 or amie.steffen@wcfcourier.com.